Vincanne Adams is a professor at UCSF School of Medicine. She has her PhD and experience in anthropology. Taslim Van Hattum is the maternal and child health portfolio director at The Louisiana Public Health Institute. Diana English is a Clinical Assistant Professor and specializes in OB/GYN and gynecologic oncology.
“ Living with long-term stress related to loss of family, community, jobs, and social security as well as the continuous struggle for a decent life in unsettled life circumstances, they manifest what we are calling ‘chronic disaster syndrome.’”
“One of the recurring themes that we heard from those who were still displaced in trailers or temporary living situations (e.g., with relatives), but more so from those who had returned and were, in a few cases, back in their homes, was that, even if the neighborhoods were being rebuilt, people had lost so much that nothing would never be the same.”
“But the failure of an effective recovery in New Orleans has created yet another kind of “disaster”—the ongoing disaster. New Orleans offers an example of the perpetuation of a “state of emergency” that was initiated by Katrina but has been sustained by ongoing politicoeconomic machinery—a machinery that ultimately needs to “have a disaster” to justify its existence.”
The article is supported through the use of interviews with Katrina survivors, providing first hand accounts and opinions of the recovery efforts from the storm, Statistics and policy moves from FEMA and other response agencies that worked in the aftermath of the storm, and data from census reports and other goverment sources to establish the scope of the disaster, and the widespread displacement and homelessness it caused.
I looked up disaster capitalism, how emergency response mutual aid to the katrina disaster was handled, and how reconstruction has progressed in more recient years.
This article focuses on "chronic disaster syndrome," a condition that arises in the aftermath of a large scale disaster where factors from the disaster lead to perminant changes in the lives of those effected. These changes include physical and mental health crises, geographic displacement, loss of life, family, community, jobs, and property, and societal instability. The causes of these conditions are not only limited to the disaster itself but they are also by the how goverments and private sector institiutions either support recovery or put up road blocks to prevent a return to normal, perpetuating the emergency into the future.
The bibliography of this article is extensive, showing a clear depth of research. Information from this article was drawn from not only first hand resources such as interviews and news reports, but also from goverment reports and the work of other researchers.
The authors, Vicanne Adams, Taslim Van Hattum, and Diana English work at the University of California San Francisco in the department of anthropology, history, and social medicine. The department’s research includes aspects of global health, social theory, critical medical anthropology, and disaster recovery.
According to Google Scholar, this article has been cited in 52 publications, mostly pertaining to response to the Katrina disaster and the sociopolitical aftermath which is still affecting survivors to the present.
Emergency response is not specifically addressed in this article.
Arguements in this article were made through the use of first hand testimonials from survivors, goverment reports, data analysis and additional research.